Difficulty has been encountered in connection with the commercial cleaning of air ducts, such as, for example, hot air furnace ducts, air conditioning ducts, ventilating ducts, and the like, such as are commonly employed in office buildings, factories, foundries, and other commercial establishments as well as residential dwellings. Various methods are currently in use in connection with cleaning and conditioning such ducts, depending upon the size, cross-sectional shape and the linear paths along which such ducts extend.
Apart from strictly manual duct-cleaning operations, certain semi-automatic cleaning procedures have been developed. These procedures usually involve the manual feeding of a long flexible suction tube through the duct from different access openings. This procedure may be preceded by a dust loosening operation, utilizing long-handled brush arrangements which must be manipulated in order to ensure loosening of dust from the side, overhead, and floor surfaces of the duct.
Procedures may utilize rotary brushes which sweep circumferentially about the inner cylindrical walls of a conduit, and, together with suction heads withdraw the loosened dust and other foreign matter. Devices may be self-propelled through the conduit or pipe, or manually guided therethrough.
Although various duct cleaning procedures and apparatus exists, the quality of the cleaning operation is incapable of being determined in real time during the cleaning operation, as inspection of the duct is not possible. Visual inspection may be accomplished after the cleaning apparatus has been removed from a duct; however, such procedures require duplicative cleaning efforts, resulting in additional time required to clean ducts.
A need has thus arisen for a duct cleaning apparatus which provides the capability of making visual inspections during a cleaning operation to ensure proper and efficient cleaning of air ducts.